Science Blog Makes a Good Case for Peeing in the Shower

Various surveys have shown that lots of people do it — one questionnaire on BuzzFeed found that more than 80 percent of those surveyed say they do. Now IFL Science weighs in on the issue, noting that relieving ourselves while showering can help conserve water. In fact, estimating that people pee on average seven times a day, the site calculates that taking away one 1.6-gallon flush across 319 million Americans every day could conserve 185 billion gallons of water a year, which is no small matter.

Mic, which is clearly biased in favor of peeing in the shower being "awesome," reports that some of this conservation is likely lost in added shower time ("Who among us, mid-shower pee, hasn't stared off into oblivion as the hot water cascaded down our bodies?"). Still, that 0.875 gallon of water that will escape the shower head in the 21 seconds it takes for the average person to pee is still less than the 1.6 gallons — more in older toilets — used to flush urine away. (It turns out that all mammals, regardless of their size, pee in about 21 seconds.)

And for those who wipe when they pee, they could save an entire roll of toilet paper every 50 days.